Attacks of Insects in Forests. 2 1 1 



was conveying the canoe and our chattels along the portage 

 by the banks of the torrent, it was an odd and I must also 

 allow a ludicrous sight to see our party on the march. Like 

 a gentleman suddenly caught in a shower, at the same time 

 suffering from an excruciating toothache, his coat collar raised, 

 and pocket-handkerchief tied round his head, my friend 

 led the van, with his vasculum on his shoulders, and in his 

 hand a spruce bough which he whisked about, his ears, whilst 

 the tormentors, blackening his neck and hands in tens of thou- 

 sands, were almost driving him distracted. Whether my East 

 Indian experiences had anything to do with their selection 

 of the Professor in preference, it was clear, from the swarms 

 which enveloped him, that he had greater attractions ; whereas 

 the native, with the major portion of his person hidden in 

 the canoe, which he carried on his shoulders bottom upper- 

 most, seemed the most indifferent. At length, after an 

 uncomfortable two hours' march, we gained the banks of 

 Grand Lake, and encamped on a clearing close to the 

 point of exit of its effluent. Here a lumber dam or bridge 

 stretches across, and occasions a rapid flow through several 

 sluices, which empty into a deep basin immediately below 

 the dam. This is the general rendezvous of the Silvery 

 Salmon Trout, where as many as fifty may be captured by 

 one rod in a day during May and June, and where barrelfuls 

 are annually salted or iced, and transported to the large cities 

 of the United States. The excitement then is intense, and 

 the banks of the river are covered with encampments. One 

 would fancy that in such a circumscribed area it would only 

 require a few years' fishing to destroy the entire colony ; but 

 I was assured on very good authority that, in spite of the 

 increased number of fishermen, there is no diminution what- 

 ever ; on the contrary, that the fishes are rather on the 

 increase. It is stated that the larger the number of adults 

 captured gives a better chance for the young to come to 

 maturity, as the former devour the fry. 



